The global market for mobile health services is expected to generate more than $49 billion in revenues by 2020, up from just $2 billion in 2012, according to a new study from Grand View Research.

The research indicates that monitoring will remain the dominant and fastest-growing market segment.

Monitoring generated revenues of $1.2 billion in 2012 and sales are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 49.7% between 2014 and 2020.

The authors say that demand for mobile health will increase dramatically over the forecast period due largely to the continuing rise in per-capita healthcare expenditures, which is making medical services unaffordable for a large percentage of the population.

In developing markets, says the company, diagnosis services are more prevalent, and growing adoption is expected to considerably augment access to healthcare in these regions.

Besides smartphone proliferation, the rollout of 3G and 4G networks will also increase demand for telemedicine services, says Grand View Research, while ageing populations and growing incidences of diseases – linked to changing lifestyles – will intensify the need for affordable and accessible healthcare.

Among other findings is that Asia Pacific market is expected to be the fastest-growing regional market, with revenues increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 49.1% between 2014 and 2020.

However, North America dominated the global market in 2012, accounting for 33.5% of total revenues.

Grand View Research also notes that mobile operators accounted for about 48% of the overall market in 2012, with most of their revenue coming rom monitoring services such as independent ageing solutions.